Plan B
by NephilimEQ
Summary: Justin and Alex embark on a journey that they never expected to take...and find something special along the way. PLEASE READ & REVIEW! I LIVE FOR REVIEWS!
1. Let's Start A Band

**Chapter 1 - Let's Start A Band **

**("Let's Start A Band" - Amy Macdonald)**

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><p>Justin and Alex Russo sat on the couch in their living room, both of them trying to come to grips with the fact that Max, their younger brother, had just won the wizard competition.<p>

Alex's legs were in her brother's lap, her head at the other end of the couch, and for once he wasn't trying to shove them off. Instead, his arms rested casually across her lower legs, as though it were something that he had always been okay with, and it truly_ did_ seem that he was fine with it.

Alex watched as Justin ran a hand through his hair, a small look of incredulity still plastered across his lips.

"So…Max. Wow. Who woulda thought?"

Alex smiled at Justin's words, glad that for once in her life she had seen something that he hadn't.

"Okay, one: I think he deserves it," she said, lifting her hand and counting off her points. "Two: he's unpredictable which _always_ made him a threat in my book. And three…seriously, Justin? How did you _not_ see this one coming?"

She started to giggle, but a small slap on her calf had her retaliating in a small kick to his thigh.

He gave her a rueful look, but she ignored it, instead looking intently at her nails as though they held answers in them.

Justin sighed and then absentmindedly rubbed the spot on his sister's leg that he'd just abused.

"I…" He started to speak and then paused, obviously distracted and disturbed by everything that had happened. "I don't know. I guess…I guess I just thought for the longest time, that _I_ was going to be the family wizard, you know? And now that I don't have my powers, I feel…_less_."

At that, Alex wisely stayed silent. He wasn't alone in that feeling.

She knew what he meant by "less."

Magic had always been something that she'd taken for granted and usually only used to prank her brothers or get her own way, but now she sort of realized that it had been a part of her in a much deeper way. It was as though the part of her that knew that she was special was…gone.

But at the same time, she felt that she was ready to take on the world as a normal person.

She glanced over at her brother and a small, indulgent smile escaped her lips. It was hard to believe that Justin was twenty-one years old when he pouted.

But, of course, practically no one believed that she was twenty. Her mouth made sure of that.

As she thought over everything that had happened and how each of them would be living their lives out as normal people, a small thought popped into the back of her head and she grinned once again, this time in fond remembrance.

She nudged her toes into his rib cage, getting her brother's attention. As soon as he was looking at her, she spoke.

"Hey, Justin…remember when we decided that our back-up plan was to be in band together? Now _that_ was fun."

Justin gave her a real smile this time, and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I remember, Alex."

He turned his head back in the other direction, looking towards the door. Both Max and their parents were out at dinner, celebrating Max's victory. Justin still thought that it was strange that Max had won, but at the same time partially agreed with Alex. Max _did_ deserve it.

Absentmindedly, he began to run his hand across his sister's knee, not really paying attention to what he was doing, but she didn't seem to mind.

Justin's mind drifted to what she had just said and he found himself actually seriously contemplating the idea.

He had continued practicing guitar over the years and had gotten much better, and he knew that Alex had secretly been practicing drums on her own for the past few years and had also continued to sing, and she was pretty good. Of course, they would need at least one more person, though, in order to really make it work.

"Hey, Alex?"

She looked up from examining her hands and gave him a look. "Yeah?"

"Let's do it."

She gave him a confused look. "Do what?"

He lifted his hand from her knee and motioned in her general direction, attempting to sound nonchalant, but being quite serious in what he was saying. "You know…the band. We weren't that bad and we should at least try it. We could have some fun at least."

He gave her a pointed look and was surprised when she didn't even flinch at the suggestion.

"Okay."

And that was that.

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><p>Alex positioned herself behind her brother as he logged himself onto the special forums for kids who hadn't won their wizard family competition, but still kept in touch with the wizard world. As Justin had explained it to her, most of them had regular jobs, but a lot of them were searching for jobs through connections in the wizarding world.<p>

She watched as he typed in the job description. It was simple, basic, and to the point.

She read it out loud as soon as he finished it.

"_Brother and sister band looking for fellow band member. Music experience necessary, singing and instrument skills a plus. Must be able to relocate to Manhattan. Enthusiastic attitude is welcome."_

She shrugged. "Not bad."

Justin gave her an incredulous look. "Not bad? _Not bad?_ Hey, for only having room for thirty words, I managed to do it in twenty-nine in under two minutes!"

She gave a slight snort, but said nothing. He was the one who was good with words, not her, and he was right. Even though she didn't want to admit it, they needed another person in the band. She didn't want to have to sing _all_ of the time, and it would be good to have someone else with a new perspective.

Justin had decided not to put the name of the band on the advertisement for one good reason…they were changing it.

And if they were changing it, then they would need to have their third person first in order for everyone to agree on the name.

Alex moved from her hovering position and went over and flopped on the couch. It was nice that they were still allowed into the wizarding lair. She had many fond memories in this room and was glad that she wouldn't have to give them up.

Justin leaned back in his chair and sighed, linking his hands behind his head. "Now we wait."

They didn't have to wait long.

"Hey, Alex…look at this."

She lifted her head but didn't even bother to move from her comfortable position on the couch. He rolled his eyes at her, but went ahead and read off what he'd found. "Alex, someone responded already to our ad. See here?"

He pointed at the screen and read off the credentials.

"Her name is Lisa Wright and she's twenty-three years old. She has an extensive background in music theory and has been doing small-time gigs in the Manhattan area. She spent three years in Great Britain, travelling the countryside, and is now looking for some more permanent work."

At this, Alex sat up from her prone position on the cushions. "Great Britain? Really? Like, England, Scotland, Ireland…those places?"

Justin looked at his little sister in surprise.

"Look who paid attention in geography."

She rolled her eyes at him as she threw her legs over the side of the couch, walking over to the computer to look at the screen herself. When she glanced at the photo, she was faintly surprised. Lisa had plain dark brown hair, green eyes, and was fairly pretty, but not breathtaking or anything of the sort.

To put it in simple terms, she was normal.

Alex shrugged. "Sure, why not. Let's message her back."

Justin looked at his sister in surprise once more, but decided to let it slide. He quickly typed out a message and hit enter, waiting for a reply from the other side.

Once more, they didn't have too wait long.

"Alex! Look at this!" He motioned to the screen once more, gesticulating with obvious excitement. "She said that she can meet with us tomorrow, here at the Sub Station! Wow…this is great. We're really doing this, aren't we?"

Alex just laughed at her brother's reaction. "Yes, Justin. We are."

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><p><strong>Part 1?**


	2. The Best of What's Around

**Chapter 2 - The Best of What's Around**

**(The Best of What's Around - Dave Matthews Band)**

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><p>Justin and Alex waited in the Sub Station, both of them extremely distracted. Justin kept looking towards the door while pretending to be reading the latest issue of <em>Modern Robotics<em>, while Alex simply kept on staring at the door, not even bothering to pretend to be reading her magazine, which was now lying face down on the table in front of her.

Suddenly, the door swung open and there she was.

It was strange…Alex had never met someone before that she'd first met online. But she plucked up her typical courage and walked over to Lisa, ignoring her brother's nervous sputtering.

"Hi. I'm Alex Russo, and this is my brother, Justin…"

She trailed off as she saw that Justin still hadn't put a single word together.

"…Or, also known as the boy who can't speak."

Lisa simply nodded her head and smiled. "It's alright…I used to be just like that. I never used to do well with meeting new people."

With that, she moved over to one of the booths and sat down. Alex grabbed the sheet of paper out of Justin's hand that held the list of questions, and moved over to the table as well and began the interview. After a minute, Justin finally regained some of his senses and walked over to join them.

Alex had only gone through the first six questions, but she was already feeling good about Lisa.

She seemed to be pretty upbeat, but not one of those overly peppy types, and she had a really strong background in music.

"Well," Alex said, folding the page of questions in her hand. "I think you're exactly what we're looking for. And, you already know about magic so we won't have to try and explain things when our brother Max flashes in from visiting Saturn, or wherever."

Lisa nodded, smiling as she stood up from her chair.

"Okay, great," said Justin, obviously having gained back his speech. "We found a place on Fifth Street that we can go to practice. The old tennis shoe factory?"

Lisa nodded again. "Yeah, I know the place. Used to go there to hang out when it was the portal to the Wizarding Shoe Heaven store."

Alex suddenly brightened at the name.

"Wait, you used to go there, too? Oh my God! Only one of the best shoe stores to ever exist, right?"

The other brunette grinned. "Hell, yeah!"

They both laughed at that, while Justin rolled his eyes, but at the same time he was happy to see Alex making friends with her. Alex honestly didn't have many friends because of her somewhat, uh, abrasive personality, but it seemed that she and Lisa were getting along just fine.

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><p>They met up the next day, and Alex was surprised when she walked in and she saw Lisa carrying at least three different instrument cases, only one of which that she could identify.<p>

Alex glanced at Justin. "Uh…I didn't realize that we were starting a marching band."

Justin simply rolled his eyes and unloaded an amp from the back of the car that their Uncle Ernesto had let them borrow.

"Didn't you _read_ her profile, Alex?"

Alex gave him a look that seemed to say that he was stupid. "Uh, _no_, don't you remember, dorkwad? You read it _for_ me, so that I didn't have to!"

Justin held back the stinging retort that he wanted to let loose, realizing that if he was going to be working with his sister, he was going to have to learn to not take her comments so personally. He let her comment slide, and instead just explained.

"She plays several different instruments, Alex. Yesterday, before she left, I asked her if she could bring them with her so we could figure out what sounded best."

Her brother gave her a pointed look and Alex pulled back.

"Oh…"

He grinned. "Yeah, _oh_."

He finished unloading the rest of the supplies, briefly noticing that Alex hadn't helped him with a single bit of it, but decided that he would talk to her about it later. Right now, the two of them had to focus on working with Lisa to get their sound.

The green-eyed girl walked over to them, and Alex couldn't help but appreciate her outfit.

Plain black jeans, black leather motorcycle boots, a gold and blue dyed two-sizes-too-large peasant top, and several pieces of black leather jewelry with gold metal accents. Very stylish and possibly some colors that they could use for part of their band.

"So," said Lisa, obviously unsure of where to start. "Which instrument do you want me to try first?"

Justin nodded towards one of the cases.

"Let's just go for basic guitar and then work ourselves up from there…is that okay?"

She nodded, and then walked over to the instrument case and pulled out an acoustic guitar that looked like it was lovingly used on a regular basis.

Alex watched as Lisa threw the strap over her shoulder and then began to tune the instrument. She'd seen Justin do it enough times that she knew what it was. However, Lisa did it much more quickly than her brother, which made her skill quite apparent.

Justin glanced over at Alex, motioning his head towards her drums and she took the hint.

She slipped onto the stool behind her drum set and watched as the two of them got their separate guitars in tune…or more like watched Justin try to be as cool as Lisa as he tuned his guitar.

Alex held back the snort of laughter that wanted to escape, and instead waited patiently…even though it was killing her.

_Finally_, Justin was ready.

He looked to Alex, and she got the hint. "A-one, two, three…"

She started a basic rhythm and Justin followed with a basic tune that he'd created a while back when they'd first started practicing for their _Alabaster Carnation_ gig at the substation.

After a few moments, Lisa came in and Alex was slightly impressed at the harmony she came up with…but at the same time, she could tell that Lisa wasn't entirely comfortable with accompanying on the acoustic instrument, and she saw the brunette keep on casting glances over towards another instrument case.

Alex suddenly stopped playing and Justin turned to face her, his eyes flashing, but Alex quickly spoke up.

"Hey, Lisa? Is it possible that you want to, I don't know…try another instrument?"

At this, Lisa's eyes perked up. "You don't mind?"

Alex shook her head and then looked over at Justin, realizing that he might want to continue, but he simply nodded.

As soon as the girl saw the approval from both siblings, she quickly returned the guitar to its case and walked over to another case, pulling out a much smaller instrument, which Alex immediately recognized as being a violin.

Wait…a violin? How would that work?

She gave Justin a look, but he just shrugged and motioned for Alex to get ready. Lisa quickly tuned the instrument and then turned to Alex and nodded her head.

Alex started again, with Justin coming in…and then Lisa came in.

Both brother and sister nearly stopped playing at the amazing sound that came from the small stringed instrument…and at how amazing it sounded with the other two.

Lisa didn't notice their hesitation and continued to play, and Justin and Alex managed to keep going. The three of them continued to play for several minutes straight, adding in some variations as they went and reading each other's' body language.

They finally drew to a conclusion and as the last note died out, the three of them shared a look.

"That was awesome!"

Alex was the first one to exclaim, and the corresponding grins from the other two seemed to echo her sentiments.

They had their sound.

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><p><strong>Part 2?**


	3. Little Lies

**A.N. - James is being portrayed in this story by actor Jason Isaacs...a man that I will forever adore.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 - Little Lies<strong>

**(Little Lies - Fleetwood Mac)**

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><p>They had been practicing for a few hours, and had finally decided to take a break. Luckily, the old warehouse was relatively cool inside, so they weren't overheating themselves or Justin's electronics, which would be great for future practices.<p>

The three of them were relaxing and learning more about each other as they sat on a couple of old couches, tossing stories back and forth.

Justin had pulled out a couple of water bottles and tossed one to each of them, and was now digging through the cooler that he had brought, trying to find the food as well.

"…And then, I realized that I'd used the Latin word for girl, instead of boy? And I turned my brother into a forty year-old woman, instead of a forty-year old man!" Lisa told them, and Alex nearly spit out the water that was in her mouth.

"I swear," Lisa continued. "It was the best April Fool's joke gone wrong, _ever!_"

Alex grinned like a maniac and Justin could tell that she was dying to share some of her own stories of the two of them, but he had no desire to be embarrassed, so he quickly spoke up before she could say a word.

"So, Lisa…where are you staying in the city?"

She gave him a look from where she lay on the moth-eaten green sofa. "Well…I thought that it was fairly obvious?"

Both Justin and Alex gave her a confused look, but then slowly saw what she meant as she gestured with one hand at the building that they were in.

At this, Alex bolted up into a sitting position, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"Wait a second…" she said, obviously still a bit confused by what their new band-mate was implying. "You live…_here_? As in, this-place-that-is-an-empty-warehouse-and-extremely-lacking-in-any-kind-of-security-whatsoever-type here?"

Lisa nodded in confirmation, which caused Justin to bolt straight up from his seat.

"Wait…how can you be staying here? Isn't that illegal? You know…squatting?"

Lisa shook her head. "No…"

They both just looked at her; Justin with a look of disbelief and disappointment, Alex with one of a slight newfound respect.

"…Not if your fiancé just bought the place for you and your new band," she added slyly, a mischievous grin spreading across her lips.

They looked at her confusion, yet again, and she quickly explained.

"Okay…so maybe there a few things that I forgot to mention-"

"Obviously," said Justin and Alex in perfect unison with identical looks of exasperation.

Lisa sighed and then continued.

"I _guess_ I kind of forgot to tell you that I'm engaged…and that my fiancé is, uhm, shall we say, a bit older than me? And," she hastily added before they could interrupt with their questions, "He has a lot of extra money just sort of lying around from an inheritance that he never spent. This is, in a manner of speaking, his wedding present to me."

At this, Alex started to grin, understanding what the girl had done, but Justin continued to gape like a codfish.

Alex looked over at her brother and sighed, rolling her eyes and looking over to Lisa.

"You're gonna have to spell it out to him, Lisa…my brother isn't very good at 'reading between the lines'," Alex said, emphasizing the phrase with air quotes.

Lisa smiled and sat up on the couch, turning her eyes to face Justin as she spoke.

"Uh, Justin…we own the place. It's ours. Well, technically it's in his name, but that's a name that's soon going to be mine anyway, so…are you okay with this?"

Justin finally closed his mouth, took a long swallow and then said…

"Halle-freakin'-lujah! I don't have to worry about bills!"

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><p>Alex had crossed over to where Lisa sat and was now grilling her on more information.<p>

"Okay, so first of all…how the hell did your 'fiancé' buy this place so quickly?"

Lisa gave a nonchalant shrug and then carefully picked her words, trying to deliver the information as gently as possible.

"Well…you see, James isn't exactly, uhm, at least not _entirely_, uh…human."

At this, Alex's eyes snapped back over to where her new friend was trying to sink between the seat cushions, obviously trying to make herself invisible to the intense and scrutinizing look that her new band-mate was giving her.

"What do you mean by _that?_" Alex asked, keeping her voice low, so that her brother didn't hear what was going on.

Justin had excused himself a few minutes ago to check on some of the equipment and to do some numbers on their finances.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders and averted her eyes, but quickly explained.

"You see…I met James after I lost my family wizard competition and went to Britain. I was nineteen, he was…" She trailed off and then started again, leaving that particular bit of information out. "He was foreign…and charming. We had this connection that I just couldn't explain, you know?"

She looked at Alex, a beseeching look in her eyes, asking her to understand and Alex's offensive body posture pulled back some.

Yeah…she knew.

Lisa continued.

"James is what _wizards_ call a Laikas…a time demon. They can stop time whenever they need to in order to get things done without it affecting mortals in any way…" She watched as comprehension fell across Alex's face and then explained the rest. "…Like filling out paperwork and things like that."

Alex gave a small smile and leaned back into the couch as well, giving her a sly look.

Lisa returned the look, and then explained a little bit more, realizing that she still hadn't told her newfound friend everything that she needed to.

"James," she continued, "Is only _part_ Laikas, which means he can only stop time for a certain amount each time….but that does make him significantly older than me."

A guilty and almost embarrassed look crossed her face.

"Uhm, if you take _out_ all of the time he's spent 'out of time', he's…" She hesitated, but then dove in. "…Forty-two years old."

Alex looked at Lisa in shock, but Lisa cut her off before she could say a word. "But he looks just a little bit younger than that, like he's in his mid-thirties. And he's a really great guy, and when he proposed I was thrilled and now we're getting married and now I'm afraid that I'll lose your trust and-"

Justin, surprisingly, was the one to cut her off.

"It's okay, Lisa…I probably would have done the same thing if I were you."

The green-eyed girl looked up at her friend's brother with worry in her eyes. "Uh…how long were you standing there?"

Justin grinned. "Long enough."

Lisa groaned in embarrassment, covering her face with her hand, trying not to die from total embarrassment.

Both Alex and Justin chuckled in amusement at her embarrassment, and waited for a few moments while the girl collected herself. It was obvious that she hadn't planned on telling them so much about herself so soon.

But soon Justin couldn't help but ask, "So…_with_ all of the extra time that James has had, how old is he?"

Lisa squirmed in her seat and mumbled a number under her breath that neither sibling could hear.

Alex grinned. "Hey, Lisa, not sure we heard you, do you think you could speak up?"

She said the number again, but they still couldn't hear her, so they prodded once more, and suddenly she snapped.

"Look, he's seventy-nine, alright?"

They both pulled back at that information, but they smiled. At least they had gotten their newest band member to open up to them and that was one of the most important things they could do. They would need trust in order for the three of them to work together, and sharing information about their lives helped to build that trust.

Alex and Justin both pulled back from the joined attack that they'd made on their new friend and shared a look.

"Cool," was all Alex said in reply to the new information, and watched with relief as all of the tension that had previously been there dissipated from Lisa's frame.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light not five feet from where they sat, and a man in black jeans, motorcycle boots and a motorcycle jacket walked over to where the three of them sat and then leaned over the back of the couch where Lisa was sitting and placed a lingering kiss on the young woman's lips.

Both Justin and Alex looked on in shock as the man said with a pleasant British accent…

"So, you told them right?"

Lisa nodded, and that was when they realized that this was James.

He walked over and extended a black gloved hand to each of them, flashing them a disarming smile.

"Hi, pleased to meet you."

Both of the siblings were still in a slight daze as they shook the Lisa's fiancé's hand. As they did, Alex couldn't help but nod in approval at the man that Lisa had picked to be her future husband. He was close to six-foot, had short, black hair, and incredibly bright blue eyes.

He then looked back over to his fiancé, who was still sitting on the couch, unmoving, and flashed her another winning smile, but then Alex noticed the barely suppressed anger in Lisa's now sparking green eyes.

James rubbed a hand against the back of his neck and then gave her another hesitant smile just before saying…

"Did I forget to mention that I was dropping by today?"

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><p><strong>Part 3?**


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